Cable Dump Reveals Vetting of Cambodians for San Diego Military Ops

Wikileaks, continuing to release its trove of purloined U.S. diplomatic cable traffic, has posted an unclassified message dated February 23 of last year to the U.S. State Department from the American embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

It discusses the need to check out the human rights record of a pair of Cambodian generals set to arrive in San Diego the following month "to attend the US Military Installation for Civil-Military Operations and Army Training."

"To comply with the Leahy amendment relative to U.S. sponsored
training," the cable says, "the U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh has conducted local human rights vetting for the following individual to attend the US Military Installation for Civil-Military Operations and Army Training, March 15-April 5, 2010 in SAN DIEGO, California."

The cable goes on to name a major general and a brigadier general in the Cambodian ministry of National Defense, adding, "U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh has reviewed its files and finds that, as of this date, it possesses no credible information of gross violations of human rights by the above individuals.

"Action request: Please verify whether the Department possesses
any credible information that the individual named above have been implicated in gross violations of human rights."